page_title: Lahore
section_title: Sikh Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Lahore / History / Sikh / Sikh Empire
caption_attribution_description: English: Badshahi Mosque (King’s Mosque) This is a photo of a monument in Pakistan identified as the PB-44
context_page_description: Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, and is the country's 2nd largest city after Karachi, as well as the 18th largest city proper in the world. Lahore is one of Pakistan's wealthiest cities with an estimated GDP of $65.14 billion as of 2017. Lahore is the largest city and historic cultural centre of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan's most socially liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan cities.
  Lahore's origins reach into antiquity. The city has been controlled by numerous empires throughout the course of its history, including the Hindu Shahis, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, and Delhi Sultanate by the medieval era. Lahore reached the height of its splendour under the Mughal Empire between the late 16th and early 18th century, and served as its capital city for a number of years. The city was captured by the forces of the Afsharid ruler Nader Shah in 1739, and fell into a period of decay while being contested between the Afghans and the Sikhs. Lahore eventually became capital of the Sikh Empire in the early 19th century, and regained some of its lost grandeur. Lahore was then annexed to the British Empire, and made capital of British Punjab.
context_section_description: Following Zaman Shah’s 1799 invasion of Punjab, Ranjit Singh of nearby Gujranwala to consolidate his position in the aftermath of the invasion. Singh was able to seize control of the region after a series of battles with the Sikh Bhangi Misl chiefs who had seized Lahore in 1780. His army marched to Anarkali, where according to legend, the gatekeeper of the Lohari Gate, Mukham Din Chaudhry, opened the gates allowing Ranjit Singh's army to enter Lahore. After capturing the Lahore, Sikh soldiers immediately began plundering Muslim areas of the city until their actions were reined in by Ranjit Singh.
  Ranjit Singh's rule restored some of Lahore's lost grandeur, but at the expense of destroying the remaining Mughal architecture for its building materials. He established a mint in the city in 1800, and moved into the Mughal palace at the Lahore Fort after repurposing it for his own use in governing the Sikh Empire. In 1801, he established the Gurdwara Janam Asthan Guru Ram Das to mark the site where Guru Ram Das was born in 1534.
  Lahore became the empire's administrative capital, though nearby economic center of Amritsar had also been established as the empire's spiritual capital by 1802. By 1812 Singh had mostly refurbished the city's defenses by adding a second circuit of outer walls surrounding Akbar's original walls, with the two separated by a moat. Singh also partially restored Shah Jahan's decaying Shalimar Gardens. Ranjit Singh also built the Hazuri Bagh Baradari in 1818 to celebrate his capture of the Koh-i-Noor diamond from Shuja Shah Durrani in 1813. He also erected the Gurdwara Dera Sahib to mark the site of Guru Arjan Dev's 1606 death. The Sikh royal court also endowed religious architecture in the city, including a number of Sikh gurdwaras, Hindu temples, and havelis.
  While much of Lahore's Mughal era fabric lay in ruins by the time of his arrival, Ranjit Singh's rule saw the re-establishment of Lahore's glory – though Mughal monuments suffered during the Sikh period. Singh's armies plundered most of Lahore's most precious Mughal monuments, and stripped the white marble from several monuments to send to different parts of the Sikh Empire during his reign. Monuments plundered for decorative materials include the Tomb of Asif Khan, the Tomb of Nur Jahan, and the Shalimar Gardens. Ranjit Singh's army also desecrated the Badshahi Mosque by converting it into an ammunition depot and a stable for horses. The Sunehri Mosque in the Walled City of Lahore was also converted to a gurdwara, while the Mosque of Mariyam Zamani Begum was repurposed into a gunpowder factory.
caption: Lahore's Hazuri Bagh is at the centre of an ensemble of Mughal and Sikh era monuments, including the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort, Roshnai Gate, and the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh.
exif: {"Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "This is part of a series of aerial photographs taken above Lahore and to and back from Sheikhupura, a distance of about 30 miles each way.\n\n Mughal architecture, modern structures, roads, River Ravi, canals and landscape is shown in many colors.  \n\nLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the country\u2019s second largest city.  It is often called the Garden of Mughals because of its Mughal heritage. Lahore also is often called the cultural heart of Pakistan, as it is the center of Pakistani arts, films and intelligentsia. It is located near the Ravi River, close to the Pakistan-India border. Mughal structures such as the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens, and the mausolea of Jehangir and Nur Jahan are popular tourist spots in the city. Lahore is also home to many British colonial structures built in the Indo-Gothic style, such as the Lahore High Court, the General Post Office (GPO).\n\nAccording to the 1998 census, Lahore's population was nearly 7 million. Mid-2006 government estimates now put the population at approximately 10 million. This makes Lahore the second largest city in Pakistan, fifth largest city in South Asia and the 26th largest city in the world.\n\nFrom 1524 to 1752, Lahore was part of the Mughal Empire, and from 1584 to 1598, under the emperors Akbar and Jahangir, the city served as its capital. Lahore reached a peak of architectural glory during the rule of the Mughals, many of whose buildings and gardens have survived the ravages of time. Lahore's reputation for beauty fascinated the English poet John Milton, who wrote \"Agra and Lahore, the Seat of the Great Mughal\" in 1670. During this time, the massive Lahore Fort was built. A few buildings within the fort were added by Akbar's son, Mughal emperor Jahangir, who is buried in the city. Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan, was born in Lahore. He, like his father, extended the Lahore Fort and built many other structures in the city, including the Shalimar Gardens. The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1658 to 1707, built the city's most famous monuments, the Badshahi Masjid and the Alamgiri Gate next to the Lahore Fort. \n\nOn April 12 1801, Ranjit Singh declared himself Maharaja of Punjab on the day of Baisakhi. The investiture ceremony was performed by Sahib Singh Bedi, who was the direct descendant of Guru Nanak. A commemorative coin was issued, Nanakshahi rupee as it was called. It was a grand gala occasion. Ranjit Singh rode on the elephant and passed through the streets of Lahore. Ranjit Singh declared to treat all his subjects Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs equally. Many chiefs and sardars offered nazrana and in return receive khillats. The Maharaja ordered that no interference be made with the personal and public law of Muslims. They were given equal rights with other subjects. Courts presided over by the Qazis and Muftis were confirmed.\n\nThe Maharaja established a secular state in which all the subjects, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were treated alike. Many talented Hindus and Muslims joined his service and the Maharaja gladly participated in the religious festivals of all the communities. Faqir Azizuddin and Diwan Deena Nath were his prominent courtiers. Festivals like Eid, Dussehra, Diwali, Holi, Basant were celebrated with splendor and gaiety. By his secular outlook, the Maharaja earned great respect from his subjects and also their loyalty. Sarkar Khalsa ruled Punjab for forty eight years. Lahore and Punjab prospered during this period. The sense of security was given to the people. Trade and Business were established on a sound basis. Ranjit Singh's biggest oversight was that he did not raised his successor. After his death, his successors fell to the court intrigues instigated by the Hindu Dogra Rajas supported by the East India Company.\n\nRanjit Singh made Lahore his capital and was able to expand the kingdom to include Jammu and Kashmir while keeping the British from expanding across the River Sutlej for more than 40 years. After his death in 1839 the internecine fighting between the Sikhs and several rapid forfeitures of territory by his sons, along with the intrigues of the Dogras and two Anglo-Sikh wars, eventually led to British control of the Lahore Darbar ten years later. For the British, Punjab was a frontier province, because Lahore had boundaries with Afghanistan and Persia. Therefore, the Punjabis, unlike the Bengalis and the Sindhis, were not allowed to use their mother tongue as an official language. It was the British who first introduced Urdu as an official language in Punjab, including Lahore, allegedly due to a fear of Punjabi nationalism. Under British rule (1849-1947), colonial architecture in Lahore combined Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles. The GPO and YMCA buildings in Lahore commemorated the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, an event marked by the construction of clock towers and monuments all over India. Other important British buildings included the High Court, the Government College University, the museums, the National College of Arts, Montgomery Hall, Tollinton Market, the University of the Punjab (Old Campus) and the Provincial Assembly. Even today, Mall Road retains a variety of Gothic and Victorian style buildings built during the British Raj. At one end of The Mall stands the university, one of the most prestiguous universities of Pakistan. The British also launched the city's first horse-racing club in 1924, starting a tradition that continues today at the Lahore Race Club.\n\nLahore played a special role in the independence movements of both India and Pakistan. The 1929 Congress session was held at Lahore. In this Congress, the Declaration of the Independence of India was moved by Pandit Nehru and passed unanimously at midnight on 31 December 1929. On this occasion, the contemporary tricolour of India (with a chakra at its centre) was hoisted as a national flag, and thousands of people saluted it.\n\nLahore prison was used by the British to detain revolutionary freedom fighters. Noted freedom fighter Jatin Das died in Lahore prison after fasting for 63 days in protest of British treatment of political prisoners. One of the greatest martyrs in the history of Indian independence, Shaheed Sardar Bhagat Singh, was hanged there. \n\nThe most important session of the All India Muslim League (later the Pakistan Muslim League), demanding the creation of Pakistan, was held in Lahore in 1940. Muslims under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah) demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of India in a document known as the Pakistan Resolution or the Lahore Resolution. It was during this session that Jinnah, the leader of the league, publicly proposed the Two-Nation Theory for the first time.\n\nOn partition, Lahore was made capital of Punjab province in the new state of Pakistan. Almost immediately, large scale riots broke out among Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, causing many deaths as well as damage to historic monuments\u2014including the Lahore Fort, Badshahi mosque and other colonial buildings. \n\nWith United Nations assistance, the government was able to re-build Lahore, and most scars of the communal violence of Partition were erased. Less than 20 years later, however, Lahore once again became the battleground for the War of 1965 when the Indian army made an attempt to capture the city which was sucessfully defended by the Pakistani military. 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